MAC KIRK

Peace- John 20:19-23       All of us long for peace in our personal lives as well as in our world.   In this world we do not see it.   Instead we read of wars breaking out, conflicts that you and I can name as we pick up the papers.   Nearer to home , peace in our families seems difficult or uncommon.   Family abuse, violence, separation and divorce are all common, and none of us is unaffected by it.          On the Resurrection day, Jesus said it two times, v. 19 and v. 21 “ Peace be with you”   “ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘ Peace be unto you.’   ( the original work is eirene which we get our word irenic which means peaceful)   This peace is given by the blood of the Cross.   Jesus gives us His peace which is no...

Easter 2014    John 20        “ Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, Not with old leaven , neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;   but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him…   Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Morning Prayer BCP , 1928       “ The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.   The she runneth…”   Mary was the last to leave the tomb and the first to see Jesus on that Resurrection morning.   Her life was changed from the day Jesus met her according to Luke. 8:2   “ and certain women (were with him along with the 12) who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdal...

Maundy Thursday 2014      Cardinal Hume in speaking of Maundy Thursday remembers that we commemorate two events mainly in this night---the first is the giving of His body and blood at Holy Communion, and the other is the footwashing of the disciples.   He also tells us that the understanding of these events comes through prayer and to “ their inner meaning we must go….which is a process, and for the most part, slow.”   Some more on that : “ so go to Him this evening and answer his call to you to watch and pray….Spend time with him, as you would have wished to when he was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.” From Cardinal Hume A Spiritual Companion Liam Kelly.       The Apostle Paul writes some of the earliest thoughts about Holy Communion in our Epistle for tonite, I Corinthians 11:23 …listen again, “ I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed t...

Palm Sunday 2014   - Philippians 2:5-11   ‘ LORD. I know not what I ought to ask of Thee; thou only knowest what I need; thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself. O Father, give to thy child that which he himself does not know how to ask.   I dare not ask either for crosses or consolations; I simply present myself before thee; I open my heart to thee.   Behold my needs which I do not know myself; see and do according to thy tender mercy.   Smite or heal; depress me or raise me up; I adore all thy purposes without knowing them; I am silent; I offer myself in sacrifice; I yield myself to thee; I would have no other desire than to accomplish thy will. Teach me to pray; pray thyself in me.” Amen.     This may be a prayer that we could pray this week of the Passion .   As I look at it, it is also a prayer that Jesus may have prayed as well.   “ I am silent” “ I offer myself in sacrifice.”   “ I yield myself to thee...

Hebrews 9:14 “ The Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ” “ There is Power in the Blood” Lew­is E. Jones ,1865-1936.  attended Moody Bible Institute, a class mate of Billy Sunday.  Did you know that one of our Bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church was President ?  Bishop William Culbertson.  Jones wrote hundreds of hymns. 1899. Jones wrote this song at a camp meet­ing at Mount­ain Lake Park , Mar­y­land . Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood; Would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful power in the blood. Refrain There is power, power, wonder working power In the blood of the Lamb; There is power, power, wonder working power In the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood; Come for a cleansing to Calvary ’s tide; There’s wonderful power in the blood. Refrain Would you be whiter, much whi...

Laetare Sunday John 6:1-15     This is mid-Lent.  Time for a spiritual breather/ time to look at where we have come, what we have done through God’s strength, and how to ask ourselves how we can be better Christians through this Lenten season.  In England this Sunday is called “mothering Sunday”---this is the Sunday when everyone returns to their home Churches and bring gifts to mother.  Sons and daughters bring mother flowers, rich plum cake and do all the housework for her.     This Sunday’s gospel is an enduring one from my childhood.  Who does not fondly remember the “lad” who had five barley loaves and two small fish, and how Jesus mulitiplied them for the 5,000?  As we review this “sign”/ miracle of Jesus today in our own minds, I note two things: 1.      Jesus took what the lad had, and multiplied it. Vs. 11 “ and Jesus took the loaves..” These were the loaves of the lad.  Whatever pr...

“Love in Lent” Ephesians 5:1-14     “ the fruit of the Spirit is all righteousness, goodness and truth” “ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us” “ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord”     We would not think perhaps to list love as one of the things we should put on during Lent, but that is what the Epistle focuses in on for today.  What a place the world and the church would be if we applied this now.  We would want to be doing things that are” well pleasing to the Lord” 5:10a now so that our lives would reflect His light in the world.  “ Walk as children of light” and have “ no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness”     Be followers or the word in the original is imitators ( from the greek word where we get our word mimic)of God.  We mimic from an early age as young people we need an example to follow....